Guardian
by Pegasus20101000
Summary: (Uploaded by request) After strange things keep happening, a demon rescues a young filly and tries to figure out what's going on and why he was told to save her... Though why does it seem the past has been changed?... (This is my first story)
1. The Raid

(Acrylic)

Even though Trottingham was usually a loud, violent place, I was worried that night; it was silent. The town may not seem like much, but it is a target for demon attacks. Why? Because of the family of demon hunters who take residence there. It's a long story, and let's just say I'm part of that family.

So, for it to be silent, that meant trouble. We were used to this sort of thing after generations of attacks, but it was still worrying, we couldn't afford to let out guard down.

I kept a lookout from my 'room', it wasn't really suitable for a foal; it was filled with weapons, it wasn't fit to be anyone's bedroom, but it did its job.

I moved my mane out of my eyes. There was nothing in sight except for the other run-down buildings, at least the ones that were still standing, some clouds, the moon and the stars. It was still deathly silent.

Sighing, I moved away from the tiny window. Just as I turned away, the first explosion went off...

* * *

(Brad)

I was trying to sleep, for the last few weeks, every now and then my spine would become extremely painful, it would only last a second and went off at random and no matter what I did I could not find a cause or a way to get rid of it. I was expecting it, but when it did go off it was a lot worse than usual.

Wincing, I shot up. It was getting really annoying, there had to be some reason for it. Maybe Lucard would know...

Something in the back of my mind, a distant voice, was trying to tell me something. _Great..._ Now I would have to add 'voices in my head' to my list of problems, this had never happened before. I focused on the words and was able to make out the message telling me to go to Trottingham.

It was strange but out of curiosity I grabbed my katana and slashed it through the air, opening a green rift, as soon as I did I heard the explosions.

"What the hell is going on?" Before the situation or the pain could get any worse, I raced through the rift and into the chaos.

* * *

(Acrylic)

Screaming, I hid, wishing my cousin was here, but he was gone and there was nothing to change that. The explosions were getting louder and closer, and I could feel the heat from the flames even from inside the building. I didn't dare open my eyes.

I had tried to escape too late and become trapped inside my home, the only way out would lead to me either being torn apart or breaking all my bones.

My magic wasn't very good yet; I only had the basic power that was passed down in my family, my eyes glowed white from demonic presences, that wouldn't help me now. My ear twitched as I heard the roof groan in warning, I knew what was going to happen.

Sure enough, with the next explosion hitting my room, the roof collapsed.

* * *

(Brad)

The rift closed behind me and I looked around, ponies were panicking everywhere, the fire from the explosions was growing and to add to the problems, a horde of demons were flying overhead and launching fireballs at the little town, the cause of the massive explosions. I had no idea why they were here, I just knew I had to stop them, but the voice was there again, warning me to ignore them for now.

I wasn't going to do that, I drew my sword and launched at the nearest demon, stabbing it straight through the chest, it went limp and collapsed to the ground.

Suddenly a scream was amplified into my head, it was deafening, what was the voice trying to tell me? Before I could figure it out, the worst hit building of them all exploded, anything that was left of the roof collapsed inwards, the scream was coming from there.

As it cut off I knew what to do, I teleported above the building and encased the rubble in green fire-like magic, moving it out of the way, a little unicorn filly became visible, severely injured from being crushed and burnt but somehow still breathing.

Picking her up before the other demons could, I left the building behind, the voice in my head finally shut up. I was confused but now was not the time to question any of this; the fighting had to be stopped!

A familiar crow flew by, it was my companion; Corvus. He cawed loudly above the noise, I could understand him, I smiled at the information and unfurled my raven wings, taking off above the town and passing the demons, they roared at us.

"Perfect." I charged a blast up, green fire building up in my claws, I waited until all the demons were below me and fired, the blast hit them and kept going; as they were knocked to the ground the flames destroyed them and spread out.

Worn out from using a lot of power and sensing that I should get out of the way, I continued into the air, making sure the filly didn't fall. The entire town exploded from my magic, it was a good thing everyone had escaped.

The light died down and I landed at a safe distance on the outskirts of Trottingham, away from the eyes of the ponies, they didn't need to see me at a time like this. Looking down at the filly, I realised that transferring her injuries to me and making myself even more exhausted was not an option, not here at least.

Turning my back on the inferno that had replaced the town, I opened another rift, placed the filly on my back and walked through tiredly. I could figure out why there had been an attack later, for now, I hoped my family wouldn't mind a filly staying with us...


	2. Waking up

(Brad)

The rift led to my home in the Underworld, a demonic castle. As soon as the rift closed behind us I checked around, making sure none of the royal guard had seen the filly. They may be under my family's command but that didn't stop them from occasionally breaking the rules; like no attacking the guests.

Avoiding them, I hurried down the halls and quickly found a room for her. She was still unconscious which was probably a good thing right now; she definitely wouldn't have wanted to see outside of this room.

I knelt down, my claws and eyes glowing as I started to heal her, transferring all her injuries to myself, it hurt a lot and I was already exhausted but finally the filly was completely healed, other than the ash on her coat.

Smiling, I dropped asleep, wondering why I had taken her in the first place...

After a few hours I woke back up, still in the same spot as before, I looked up at the filly but her eyes were closed, she hadn't moved at all except for her breathing.

Standing up, I stretched my wings then made them disappear, my claws fading away too. I didn't want to terrify her any more than necessary, especially after the attack.

"Guess I should tell Lucard and Salem what happened... I hope she doesn't wake up before I return." I turned around to leave but stopped dead, Salem was already there...

* * *

(Acrylic)

After I was knocked out the dreams started, they were always strange. As usual it showed my past, the time when my cousin, Ochre Drop, was around, but then it seemed to show a future. Every time I saw myself in the dream there was a dark shadow behind me with glowing eyes... I was unable to tell if it was good or bad.

I started to wake up but kept my eyes closed, too comfortable to get up properly. It was quiet once more except for someone faintly talking nearby, I didn't recognize their voice.

Then I remembered what happened. My eyes shot open and I looked around an unfamiliar place, confused and worried. Hadn't the roof collapsed? What about my family? Wasn't I supposed to be hurt?

Before I could ask myself any more questions, my eyes glowed white... There were more demons here...

* * *

(Brad)

"Hi Salem..." I really hoped she wasn't going to overreact.

"Brad, what did you do? And why is there a pony in the castle? She shouldn't be here!"

I guess I saw that coming, but this wasn't really the time for an argument, especially since the filly was waking up.

"What was I supposed to do? Leave her to die?"

"That would have been better than bringing her here!" She notices a white glow and looks at the filly, for some reason, her eyes were white. Before I could do or say anything, her horn started glowing, a beam of magic shot at Salem, expecting it; she just stepped out of the way.

"That's a really bad idea... Salem, you should leave, I don't care if you tell Lucard because I was going to anyway."

Just as Salem left the room I noticed that the filly was awake, for some reason her eyes were glowing white. She got up and backed away from me.

"Its fine I won't hurt you..."

She didn't look like she believed me; she backed into a wall, not looking away for a moment. I took a step forward and she shot magic at my face, I blocked it with a small green shield. I was surprised, how come the filly knew how to defend herself with this sort of magic?

Before she could fire at me again I darted forward and picked her up, she struggled but I was able to get a device around her horn that stopped her from using magic. As soon as she realised she couldn't teleport away she gave up and closed her eyes, finally saying something.

"You win... But I won't tell you anything. So you may as well just kill me now."

"I won't do that because I already told you; I won't hurt you." I put her back on the ground and she stared up at me, still disbelieving.

"You... Won't?"

* * *

(Acrylic)

I was confused now. This was a demon, and if my powers were telling me correct, a very powerful one, so why wasn't he going to attack me or get information like all the rest of them. Especially after everything that had happened... Didn't he know about my family?

Well, I wasn't going to tell him, I couldn't trust him yet, but if he was really telling the truth then I could find a way home.

Watching him closely, he walked to the door. "I promise I won't harm you. I'll come back later."

As soon as he was gone I tried to get the device off my horn, I don't know exactly what it was or how it worked but even putting all my strength into pulling it off failed. Instead I tried the door; I ran over and went to pull it open, only to find he'd locked it. I was trapped here...

"So much for escaping... Now what do I do?" Looking around the room I searched for anything that could help me escape but had little luck. There were no windows, and the only things in the room were a bed, a table and a candle. I wasn't about to set anything on fire, demon would probably kill me in anger or I would get burnt, most likely it wouldn't work at all.

Giving up I sat down on the bed and waited for him to return. I had to find a way out, if not, I would gain the demons trust like he was trying to with me. I had little reason to believe he would take me back if I asked. I just had to be patient.


	3. Escaping?

(Acrylic)

I'd almost fallen back to sleep waiting for the demon to come back. Hearing the door unlock I looked up at him, wondering what had taken him so long. Before I could ask him anything he put some food on the table then started pacing.

After a minute I spoke up. "What's your name?" He stopped walking and looked at me.

"I was about to ask you the same question... My name's Brad."

"I'm Acrylic Splash. Your name isn't threatening at all..."

"Yeah, I know." He shrugs and glances at the food. "Aren't you going to eat?"

Actually I was hungry, but I didn't move from my spot. I ignored the question to ask him something else. "Why did you bring me here?"

"I... Don't actually know... But I found you, saw you needed help and healed you."

That explained where all my injuries had gone, but now I was more confused; why did he heal me when it was his own kind destroying the town in the first place?

"By the way. The food isn't poisoned if that's what you were thinking."

"How do you expect me to trust you? For all I know, it could be." He better have a good reason for all of this.

"I don't. It's your decision if you don't want to, but the food is not poisoned."

He left a few minutes later after I said nothing else, leaving the food behind. I still wasn't sure about anything, except that I still didn't trust him, at least not much...

Looking at the food I finally decided that I might as well eat, I didn't want to starve to death before finding a way out of this place. I got up then stopped and looked at the door.

He'd left it unlocked...

* * *

(Brad)

That went better than I expected, since I didn't get shot at this time. I felt like I was forgetting something though...

Not thinking much of it I walked away from the room and down the corridor. I wanted to practice sword-fighting today.

On my way there I passed a few of the royal guard on patrol, I'd only explained what had happened to Salem and Lucard, and they were the only ones who knew about Acrylic right now, I didn't expect it to stay that way for long.

Entering the room,I began training, still feeling like there was something I'd forgotten, something important... It was probably nothing.

* * *

(Acrylic)

Ignoring the food for freedom I opened the door and checked the hallway, I couldn't see anyone, but I could hear talking in the distance, hopefully Brad wouldn't remember about the door for a while. Now I could find a way to get out of this place...

Taking a chance I left the room and started running, making sure I didn't make too much noise and checking around the corners as I went.

Being careful not to attract attention or run in circles, I kept going for a few minutes, reaching some stairs eventually, the best idea was probably to go down.

I was expecting to find someone eventually, as I reached the bottom of the stairs I saw demons... Lots of them. They hadn't noticed me yet but they were walking in my direction, so I galloped over to a nearby statue, hiding behind it as I waited for them to pass.

They walked past the statue, but before I could breathe a sigh of relief, one of them stopped and looked straight at the statue, it turned around and walked over

This wasn't good, it was going to see me!

Trying not to panic, I waited until the last moment then darted away, they all knew I was here now so no point in trying to hide. I hoped I could keep running long enough to get away from them...

(Brad)

* * *

Halfway through my training I stopped for a break. Trying to remember what I'd forgotten. My thoughts were answered when I heard something in the corridor and my back started becoming painful.

I'd forgotten to lock the door hadn't I?...

Picking my sword back up I followed the noise quickly. It didn't take me long to reach them and figure out what had happened; a small group of the royal guards had spotted the filly and began chasing her.

Just as they were about to capture her I jumped between them, holding my sword in front of me as a block. Instantly, all the guards stopped in their tracks. In the corner of my eye I could see the filly had stopped too and was looking between me and the other demons.

"All of you, back to your posts now! Next time something like this happens, I will kill you..."

Hearing the warning, all the guards turned back. Once they were out of sight I looked at filly, putting the sword on my back. She didn't look hurt, just scared.

"That... Wasn't my best idea..."

"No, but at least you didn't get eaten by the guards."

She sighed. "I just wanted to go home..."

"You can soon. For now, go back to your room." I lead the way back through the castle, Acrylic following beside me, after this I needed to check something.

"Why can't I go now?"

"Because it's not safe yet. I need to find out why all of this happened..."

This time I made sure the door was locked before I left. Opening a rift with my katana, I walked through it, I was back on the outskirts of what was left of Trottingham. Staying out of the way so I wouldn't be noticed, I watched a few groups help re-build the town. I had some ponies to try and find, hopefully they were still around here...


	4. Answers

(Brad)

There was a reason I had come back to Trottingham; I was trying to find Acrylic's family, and some answers. I wasn't sure if they had returned to the town yet though.

I looked around, then, making sure none of the ponies could see me, I became a unicorn; I had a white coat, yellow eyes and a grey mane and tail. The only problem with this form was that I had no cutie-mark. Hopefully the ponies were too busy re-building to notice that part.

Entering the town, no one took any notice of me. It couldn't be too hard to find the right ponies.

Most of the area was still filled with rubble from where the houses had collapsed. I headed to the worst hit part on the edge of the town, from there I could see where I found Acrylic, there was hardly anything left of the building, and there were gravestones everywhere, one of them looked new.

The name on the new gravestone was familiar; 'Ochre Drop.'

Before I could continue searching around, I heard something; like the rubble had shifted slightly. I turned to look and an arrow flew past my head, just missing my ear.

There were ponies standing atop the rubble, holding multiple weapons, but I didn't take notice of that because of their eyes. They were glowing white.

"Another demon… You will die!" One of them shouted, blowing my cover, as they raised the crossbow again. Something about these ponies was familiar…

Well, I'd found the right ponies and had two of my questions answered, but I wasn't going to stick around while I was being fired at.

Quickly, I turned and galloped away, more arrows and a few daggers just missing me. There was something else they were firing as well, but I couldn't see what it was, so I focuses on avoiding it instead.

I left the town far behind and opened a rift, jumping through it before they could catch up.

Once I had closed the rift I returned to my regular form. I'd memorized what those ponies looked like, as soon as the town was re-built, I'd take Acrylic back to them.

I'd found out a few things; where Acrylic's family was, and what the glowing eyes meant. They had a power that could let them sense if a demon was nearby, which is how they knew I was there, and with the weapons, that led me to believe they were demon hunters.

That also explained why Acrylic had started firing magic at us in defence, she saw demons as the enemy.

If there was anything else I needed to find out I would go back later on. For now, I headed back to Acrylic's room.

* * *

(Acrylic)

While Brad was gone I quickly ran out of things to do while I waited. Eating the food and looking around the room again didn't last very long, I couldn't look outside to see what was happening since there were no windows, and once again, the door was locked. Also, my magic was still being controlled. I was so bored…

He was gone for a long time, so to annoy him and keep myself entertained, I came up with the best nickname ever. I hoped he wouldn't mind that.

Finally, I heard the door being unlocked, Brad was back.

"Hi again Fluffy. Where did you go?"

"I went to- Wait… What did you just call me?"

I started giggling. "Your name is now Fluffy."

"Um... why that name?"

"Because I said so, and it's the best name ever, so it's staying!"

"Ok then… Anyway, I went to Trottingham to see how the re-build was going and-"

I cut him off. "You got shot at."

"Yes, how did you know that?"

"It's Trottingham… They know when demons show up."

"Then you can probably answer a few of my questions."

"Questions? Like what?"

* * *

(Brad)

Hopefully I would get all my questions answered, and figure out why those ponies were so familiar, or maybe it was their magic that was familiar...

"Well, for a start, why do your eyes glow around demons?"

"All my family can do that. It's part of our power as demon hunters. It's a warning, and it helps keep us safe. We need to protect our family..."

"And why do you need to do that? Where did that power come from?"

"That's something I can't tell you, secrets are a big part of our safety, we're not allowed to tell anyone."

So much for getting a full explanation. I guess I'd have to settle with only getting some of the questions answered, unless I found another why of getting the truth of course.

"Why did you start hunting demons then?"

"Because they all started hunting us. We learnt to defend ourselves..."

I hadn't noticed demons going there before... Lucard would have said something about it. Well, he should have, unless he hadn't noticed either.

"I'm guessing all the gravestones are to do with that..." It was probably a bad idea for me to mention that, she looked upset.

"Yes... For generations we've been stuck in Trottingham, we can't leave, and if we do get out, more demons find us. All of those ponies were murdered by demons..." She looked away.

I was going to ask about Ochre Drop but considering she didn't like talking about this I changed the subject. I'd ask some other time.

"Can't the royal guard help you?"

"They did try to at some point, but when they couldn't fight off the demons and too many of them were lost, they left us to fend for ourselves. Luckily, we found ways to help our side in a fight."

"That explains it then. I won't ask any more questions for now."

"Alright, is there something I can do in this castle? It's really boring..."

"Well... I guess you can train, and there's a library."

She looked a lot happier now. "Lets go then!"


	5. Training

(Brad)

With most of my questions answered, we left the room and I lead the way through the halls to the training hall, Acrylic staying nearby just in case. Luckily, the guards left her alone this time, they didn't look happy though, most of them were out of the castle anyway, on patrols of the Underworld.

We reached the room and entered, looking around we could see that there were a few targets set up already and there were weapons on the wall.

"You can start with target practice. You can borrow a ranged weapon or just use magic." I looked at Acrylic.

"Ok then. I'll use my magic."

She walked to the centre of the room; her eyes were still glowing white from the other demons as she charged magic. After a moment she fired small blasts of magic at the targets, most of them hitting the centre.

The marks from where she'd hit the targets faded away and they started floating into the air and moving around the room at a fast pace. She watched them, looking slightly confused.

"Now try and hit them." I stayed out of the way.

She didn't say anything but the white glow increased, she aimed at the nearest target and knocked it out of the air, moving onto the next one straight away.

I watched as the last of the targets were hit after a minute. She hadn't been good with accuracy here but she'd put enough power into the blasts to almost destroy the targets.

Acrylic walked back over to me, her eyes had faded back to light blue. "What next?"

"How good are you with a sword?"

* * *

(Acrylic)

Brad threw a short sword over to me and I levitated it, noticing that he was now holding a katana, something about it was familiar.

"I'm not that good at sword-fighting…" I was slightly worried.

"Well, now you can practice."

I levitated the sword in front of me and backed away a bit, my eyes turning white again, I waited.

He teleported over to me and at the last moment I got out of the way, the katana just missing me. I cut his side with the short sword then moved away again as he turned around to face me. This time, I blocked the katana as best as I could, it was only inches away from my eyes. Jumping back away from him, I was already getting tired from the fight, I watched as he teleported a second time.

"Huh?" Wondering where he'd gone I looked around the room then quickly turned around as he re-appeared, only just stopping the katana from hitting me, my eyes glowing brighter.

The sword fight went on for a few minutes until the blade was at my throat and the short sword had been knocked away.

"I win." He smiled. "You just need more practice."

"I know... I'm better with magic." I stared at the katana until it was away from my throat, exhausted from the fighting, I sat down, the glow fading a little.

"That's enough training for today."

Later on I was back in my room, resting, the door had actually been left unlocked this time.

He'd had the chance to kill me at any time but he hadn't, even though he knew I was from a demon hunters family. Maybe not all demons were that bad, which meant I could actually trust him. I'd be the first of my family to have a demon for a friend, unfortunately, I didn't think my family would believe me or trust Brad, they've always killed demons and demons have always hunted them, which made me wonder why Brad hadn't known about them before.

Now that I thought about it. He seemed familiar, but I didn't remember ever seeing him before the raid on Trottingham. I'm sure I hadn't...

It was probably nothing, so I didn't put any more thought into it and went to sleep, again, seeing the shadow in my dreams.  
But something had changed which worried me, when I saw my past with my cousin, Ochre, he was following the shadow and his eyes were glowing white, and this time, the shadow seemed familiar to me, I hadn't seen this happen in my dreams before...

* * *

(Brad)

A few hours later, I was pacing, trying to figure something out.

I'd almost completely forgotten about the name I saw on the gravestone, but now I wondered why it seemed familiar to me. I'd never heard of 'Ochre' before and since he was a pony that made sense, but still, something was telling me that I should know him or at least have seen him before.

I stopped walking and tried to remember, I'd only been to Trottingham twice as far as I knew, otherwise I would have known about the hunters earlier on and Acrylic would have recognized me, there was nothing I could think of to say that I knew Ochre at some point.

Anyway, he was dead, there was no point in figuring out who he was.

Yet something else was bothering me, during the sword fight and the training it seemed that I had fought that kind of magic before, which was strange.

Maybe I'd found out about all of this later, if I had to, I would go back to Trottingham more often, not just to see their progress in the re-building but to try and find out more about them and Ochre, but not yet.

For now, I left the room and headed to the top of the castle to visit Lucard...


	6. Something is missing

(Brad)

Something wasn't right. After visiting Lucard, I kept seeing memories in my head that I didn't remember having before, and the voice in my head was back, it wasn't happy about something.

Pacing, I watched the memories closely; trying to figure out what was going on, what the voice was telling me and why I was seeing all of this.

For a few moments I was able to recognize Acrylic in the memories…

I was missing something important here, how come I was remembering all of this now? Confused, I stopped pacing. What the hell was going on?

Hoping I would be able to figure out everything soon enough, I headed to Acrylic's room, keeping an eye on the memories that were still showing up as I walked.

Remembering the name from before; Ochre, I knew he had something to do with all of this… Was he the voice in my head?

I stopped outside Acrylic's room, deciding on what I should do. I would ask her about Ochre, and what happened to him, and then hopefully, all of this would become clear.

Walking in, I realised that she was still asleep, I guessed I would have to wait, unless… Maybe I could see her dreams. That might tell me who Ochre is without me having to ask…

But then there was the reason this was all forgotten in the first place. It was probably for a good reason. If I had had something to do with Ochre's death then I would lose all of Acrylic's trust… I didn't want that.

Before I could think any more, Acrylic woke up and looked at me, her eyes glowing white. As soon as she awoke, instantly the memories and voices in my head stopped.

* * *

(Acrylic)

Something had woken me up before the end of the dream. I wasn't sure what it was, I just knew that I had missed something important.

From what I had seen, my dreams were showing me a past I didn't remember. Both Brad and Ochre were there, but that was all I knew so far.

Ochre had been killed by a lightning strike; it had nothing to do with Brad… Right?

I opened my eyes and saw him there, my eyes glowed white in response.

"Brad? What are you doing here?"

He looked worried about something. "Well... Can you tell me who Ochre is?"

I sighed and sat up. "He's my cousin. He died a few weeks ago."

"Sorry, but I have to know about him. How did he die?"

"We were outside in a storm and he got hit by lightning." I decided not to mention the dreams yet, but it seemed like Brad was hiding something too. "We think it was caused by a rogue demon."

"Anything else I should know?" He looked slightly confused then relieved, I wondered what this was about.

"Not really. He had the same powers as me, and he was always helping stop the other demons."

"Okay. You should go back to sleep." He left without another word.

Something about all this was suspicious, but I just shrugged and tried to go back to sleep.

* * *

(Brad)

After leaving, I sighed and walked off to another part of the demon castle.

If what she said was true then it couldn't have been me who killed her cousin, I used fire, not lightning. I was still confused and missing some parts of the story, but for now, I'd heard enough. I would wait until more memories were shown before asking any more questions. I would have to check Trottingham again later on, this time, I would be more careful not to attract the hunters attention.

Strangely, now that I wanted to hear the voice in my head again, it had shut up completely. Just when I wanted to try and have a conversation with it... That was annoying...

Deciding to wait until morning to do anything else, I passed the guards patrol and went back to my room to rest.

* * *

The next morning I opened a rift straight to Trottingham and switched forms so I was a unicorn once more, just in case someone other than the hunters saw me. I walked through the rift and looked around. The citizens of the town were very fast builders, they hadn't done very good jobs, but the town was almost completely rebuilt and what had been built was at least staying standing. That was good.

I couldn't assure that there wouldn't be another demon raid though...

Looking to the edge of the small town, I could see the hunters, they had even more weapons than my last visit, though they seemed to be looking for something.

Now that I thought about it, that must have been what they were doing last time. They must have been searching for Acrylic.

When she returned how was she going to explain showing up out of nowhere with no injuries? She'd most likely lie, they wouldn't believe her if she told the truth...

I spotted the gravestone marking where Ochre Drop was buried, as I looked at it, another memory appeared in my head. It was unclear what I was seeing as it was dark, though it was definitely a memory from the storm that Acrylic mentioned. I was just able to see three figures standing there before the images faded away from my mind. One of the figures I recognized as me, the second was Acrylic, again, the third, which was unfamiliar, I guessed to be Ochre.

I'd never met them both before, at least not from what I remembered, there was still the chance that what we both knew was wrong, that it had all been altered for some reason, I hoped it hadn't...

Taking one last glance at the hunters, I left through the rift. A faint message was heard before it closed.

"_The memory lock is failing..._"


	7. Truth

(Brad)

I'd had an idea during training the next day to see if my memories had been altered, I would check my mind for any kind of block, anything that could have made me forget the truth. If nothing showed up then I wouldn't know what to do next and I'd be even more confused, but then at least I'd know for sure I couldn't have killed Ochre.

Closing my eyes, I became my spirit form. I concentrated on my memories and was able to view them in my mind, checking for anything strange. This went on for a few minutes until I reached a block, stopping me from seeing something.

This was definitely not good.

Knowing I had to unlock it somehow, I attempted to, but just as I was starting to break it open, I heard a scream and lost my concentration, becoming a demon once more.

* * *

(Acrylic)

Now that I had been at the castle for a while, I felt a lot safer and had been able to explore, if I ignored the part that there were demons here, it wasn't that bad really.

I had noticed near the training hall that there was a stairway leading down. I was sure we were on the bottom floor of the castle so I was curious to find out what was there.

Heading down after a training session, I noticed how dark it was, it was so dark that it was impossible to see anything as soon as I reached the bottom of the stairs. I wasn't afraid of the dark even after fighting demons that came from the shadows, but it was still pretty creepy.

Looking around, my horn and eyes glowed so I could see and the area around me was lit up. That was when I noticed the huge spider webs. That worried me.

I may not have been afraid of demons, or darkness, but I was afraid of spiders…

Deciding it would be best to leave before I met any of them, I turned around just as a spider landed on my mane. At first I didn't notice, but it crawled onto my face, straight away I started panicking, trying to get it off. I ran back upstairs, screaming as the spider didn't fall off.

After a few seconds I ran into Brad, still freaking out as the spider was levitated away from me.

* * *

(Brad)

As soon as I walked out into the hall Acrylic ran into me, that was when I noticed the spider that was scaring her. I levitated it away from her but she didn't stop screaming.

"Calm down, the spider's off now."

She stopped panicking and looked between me and the spider, still scared.

"You didn't tell me there were giant spiders here!"

"This is just a baby spider."

Maybe that wasn't the best thing to say, she was even more terrified.

"What?..."

"Don't worry, they stay in the catacombs, just don't go down there again and you'll be fine." The spider disappeared as I sent it back to the catacombs where it belonged.

She looked relieved that the spider was gone. "Trust me. I won't even go near that place... Thanks for getting rid of the spider."

"No problem. Why are you so scared of them?"

"I just... Don't like them at all. They're creepy... I don't like trains or thunderstorms either."

"I can understand fears of thunderstorms and spiders, but why trains?"

"I'm not actually scared of trains themselves, I'm just scared of going on them."

"Oh okay then. Are you going to train more or go rest?"

"I'm a bit tired actually."

"Alright." I lead the way back through the castle. Planning to try and unlock the memories again later, hopefully without being distracted again.

* * *

About an hour later, I was in my spirit form again. Hearing the voice.

"_Are you sure you want to know what happened?"_

"Yes, I'm sure."

I repeated the same process as before until I reached the block, starting to unlock it.

It was difficult, the block was definitely meant to stay shut, but I tried anyway, the voice in my head staying silent now.

After a while I finally unlocked it, instantly, my vision was flooded with memories, my eyes glowed brightly and my form switched back to normal as I collapsed. Still seeing the memories as I was unconscious.

Like in the dreams, I saw Ochre and Acrylic in the storm, except I was holding the katana and fighting Ochre. He may have been a colt but he was still powerful, and he had a strange weapon that looked like a snow white flower, yet it was extremely painful every time it hit me. I'm not sure what it was.

The fight lasted a few minutes until I stabbed the blade through his chest, he instantly fell to the ground, dying as the storm got worse. I turned around to face Acrylic, planning to kill her before she could kill me, but something happened. Ochre's soul flew into me and combined with mine, causing me to feel pain and hear a voice in my head telling me to protect Acrylic. Deciding to get out of the town before more demon hunters showed up and made things worse, I opened a rift, just before I ran through I heard another message, I locked the memories of everything that had happened, it was best Acrylic didn't know the truth, not yet. There was a flash of light and I was back in the demon castle as if nothing had happened.

My sight went back to normal. Finally, it was over and I knew what had really happened, the memories had answered some questions as well. I was the one who had killed Ochre, that was why his name and the magic he and Acrylic used was familiar, and I knew now where the voice had come from.

"Why did you tell me to lock the memories?"

_"Because I know what's going to happen in the future, she needs your help and she needs to trust you, I didn't expect the memory lock to start failing though. Now you know what happened, are you going to tell Acrylic the truth?..."_


	8. Returning

(Brad)

"_So… Are you going to tell her the truth_?"

I started pacing around the room, thinking. "I don't know…"

"_Well, it's either you tell her or she finds out herself."_

"How will she find out if she has a memory lock?"

"_From being around you the memory lock is weakened, since she finds things familiar, like when you fought, she's already seeing what actually happened through her dreams."_

"I don't really want her to find out. What if I strengthen the memory lock on both of us then take her back home before it can weaken again? Her family is looking for her, and the town is almost completely re-built now… It would be better than losing her trust. If you can tell me what happens in the future it would help a lot."

"_I'm afraid I can't tell you the future, for a few reasons. Mainly because whatever I tell you may not actually happen, you know that the future isn't set in stone, and there are many alternate ways events can happen. You'll just have to decide what to do yourself."_

"Well… I guess the best choice is to keep her memories locked then."

Hearing commotion outside, Ochre's voice faded away and I listened, heading out of the room to find out what was going on. As I opened the door I could see many of the royal guards running past, heading out of the castle.

"What's going on?"

One of the demons stopped for a second and faced me. "The castle is under attack from a new enemy, all the guards and the demon lord have been called to defend the castle." He continued running.

"This isn't good…" Remembering that Acrylic was still in the castle I went to find her quickly, running through the halls to her room and passing even more of the royal guard. The sound of fighting grew louder.

"_The demons that are attacking are important in the future, the guards will not be able to defeat them, only drive them away and weaken them for now..._"

* * *

(Acrylic)

I had almost fallen asleep when I heard the noises outside, I sat up, confused and wondering what was happening. Before I could go find out, the door opened and Brad ran into the room. My eyes glowed white.

"What's going on-"

He interrupted before I could finish.

"No time to explain, we have to go back to Trottingham as soon as possible! There's something I need to do first, before the attackers get into the castle."

Worried, I didn't ask any more questions, watching as his eyes glowed green.

My head started to hurt, after a few seconds I felt like I'd forgotten something, something important. I was about to say something to him about it when a crack appeared in the wall and a loud roar was heard nearby.

My eyes glowing even brighter in warning, I jumped away quickly just as the wall exploded inwards, a four-eyed demon covered in scars had crashed through into the room, it snarled at us both and spread its wings. I was just able to see two crossed scars on its sides before Brad grabbed me and jumped through a rift, it closed before the demon could charge after us.

Just as the rift closed, my head stopped hurting and I felt like I had seen the crossed scars before, during the thunder storm where my cousin had died, was it the same demon who killed him?...

I looked around to find us back on the outskirts of Trottingham, the place was almost completely re-built. I could see my family in the distance as well. I was glad to be back.

Then I remembered how long I'd been gone and what had happened before I'd left... How was I supposed to explain that?

* * *

(Brad)

After this I would have to return to the castle and try to help the guards out, I had sensed that those demons weren't the same as the ones from the raid, but some of them were still very powerful. And it appeared that I was going to run into them again, especially if they were important to the future as Ochre had said.

Becoming my unicorn form I started to walk towards the town with Acrylic, heading to the hunters and hoping they wouldn't attack me this time.

Acrylic followed me, she looked worried again. "What are you doing Brad? They'll kill you!"

"I know that. I'm hoping I can at least explain what happened and where you've been before they try to do that."

"They're demon hunters... They most likely won't want to listen to you or believe you... At least let me go ahead and talk to them first."

I stopped walking on the edge of town. "Alright, good idea. I'd prefer not to be held at gun-point for once. I'll wait here then."

I watched her head towards the hunters. This time I was able to see what they looked like since I wasn't running away. One I recognized from before, he was similar to Acrylic so I assumed that was her father, he was an earth pony with a gold coat, a white diamond-shaped patch on his forehead, a long blue and green mane and tail and there was a scar through one of his eyes, it looked like he was half blind.

Acrylic talked to him for a minute then she returned to me.

"I explained as much as I could. They want to talk to you... They said they won't attack you unless they have a reason to..."

"Well, lets get this over with then." I sighed and followed her back over to the golden earth pony, he was glaring at me but wasn't holding any weapons up, I could see them nearby though. I could tell he didn't trust me at all, I just hoped he'd listen and believe me.


	9. Trust and Lies

(Brad)

It was nice not being held at gun point for once, but I could tell that if any of the hunters didn't believe me they would attack instantly, I had to be careful, very careful.

I glanced at Acrylic as she walked to the side of a mare then looked back at her father, noticing that the rest of the hunters were staying out of the way.

The gold earth pony finally spoke to me.

"Who are you?"

"My name is Brad."

"Were you a part of the raid from before? And why did you save Acrylic?"

"No, I didn't even know the other demons were raiding this place. I saved Acrylic because..." I trailed off, not sure if I should tell them. "Well... The voice in my head told me to..."

I could see Acrylic in the corner of my eye, she looked confused, I remembered I hadn't told her about that. I also noticed that the other hunters eyes were glowing white in warning.

"What voice?..."

They were definitely not going to trust me. "Um... I've heard it for a while now. His name is Ochre..."

He looked over at the gravestone nearby, the one reading 'Ochre Drop'. "Why are you hearing my nephew's voice?" I could tell he was suspicious. Acrylic's family knew a demon was responsible for his death in some way, even though they hadn't seen the demon, they would suspect me.

"His soul combined with mine a while ago. He keeps telling me to protect Acrylic."

"If you've never met him or my family before, why did he do that?"

"I don't know, maybe because he thought I had enough power to save her. So I did... He told me he saw the future, he knows I'll need to look after her."

His eyes glowed brighter, I heard the voice in my head.

"_Just like the memory lock was starting to fail before, they were affected by it slightly, they were nearby during the fight, they're recognizing you. You are both keeping massive secrets from each others, and they can tell when something is missing. You are either going to have to tell them the truth and hope for the best or keep the lie alive for longer..."_

Stepping back, I watched as all the hunters raised their weapons, Acrylic looked worried and even more confused now. I wondered what Ochre meant by both of us keeping secrets.

I saw the strange white flower from before and my eyes glowed green.

"You are hiding something... You either explain everything or die!"

They aimed their weapons at me in warning, and I realised I had no choice. So much for my original plan...

Just before they could fire, I levitated them into the air so they couldn't move then began to change their memories, creating a memory lock in all of their minds, remembering the demon from before, I replaced the image of me killing Ochre with that demon. It took a lot of power because of how many hunters there were and also because they were fighting it, but I finally managed to lock everything, stronger than before.

They all fell to the ground, unconscious.

Tired out and feeling the memory lock starting to affect me as well, I opened a rift, and with one last look at Acrylic, I jumped through the rift back to the demon castle where the fight was still going on.

I forgot everything...

* * *

(Acrylic)

Waking up, I opened my eyes and looked around. I was back in my room. I remembered the raid and the explosions, then being knocked out, but that was all I could remember, I felt like I had forgotten something but I didn't put much thought into it.

Getting up and looking outside the window, I could see Ochre's grave nearby. I remembered what happened a while ago, though most of it was a blur; the strange demon with four eyes and the crossed scars had fought him. Then there had been a flash, the demon had disappeared and my cousin had died.

As I thought about it, I remembered that just before the flash something else had happened, as if something had been passed onto me. I had realised that me family was hiding something from me, they must have known what had been passed on somehow, so it had to be important.

They'd yet to explain the family's past to me, I only knew the reason behind our glowing eyes. When they did tell me the story, hopefully I'd know the truth then.

Sighing, I turned away from the window and my eyes glowed white with anger. I didn't want to be a demon hunter like the generations before me, but if I ever saw that demon again, I would kill it.

One day, I would finally leave Trottingham and go to Canterlot like I always wanted to, maybe then I would find it again, and I wouldn't let it kill anyone else I loved...

* * *

I didn't find out the truth for years, and most of that time I had spent blaming myself for my cousin's death. My family were demon hunters so I should have been able to help him in the fight, but I hadn't.

They had told my about the two spirit guides choosing one of my ancestors to hold part of their power so one day they could be freed from the book of Illusions. They had trapped themselves to protect their power from others, they had hidden themselves away in the north where no one would look without getting lost or tricked, if they were found, their power would be lost to evil or destroyed. We had been told that someone in our family would be responsible for locating and freeing them, that had originally been Ochre's job, but it had been passed on to me at his death.

As soon as I was 18, I left Trottingham with what little I owned and walked all the way to the city of Canterlot. Still searching for the demon that killed my cousin, not having any idea what would happen over the next ten years...

During that time, I met a demon called Brad...


	10. Epilogue: 20 Years Later

_Epilogue - What happened 20 Years Later?_

(Acrylic)

I had arrived in Canterlot, fought False; the demon who I thought killed my cousin, and met Brad, who turned out to be my guardian demon. A lot happened over the ten years we were friends, although I missed five of those years due to the diamond prison, we both helped each other and even saved Equestria a few times, though we never really got praised for that.

It was during the tenth year that we started to notice a problem.

By this point, False had turned out to be good, and had been helping us for a while. We all still thought he was responsible for Ochre's death, he even admitted it, Brad had even become the demon god. But then I got to a stage where I was almost a spirit guide.

Since I would have to be careful for three days, just in case there was an attack, Brad told me I should stay at the demon castle for a while.

When I got there however, it seemed that the room I was staying in was very familiar, but neither of us could figure out why.

Having an idea of how we could find out, we asked a friend to search our memories, which was when she found something; she found the memory lock and unlocked it…

He remembered everything, the way it was supposed to be.

* * *

(Brad)

As soon as my memories were unlocked, I remembered everything; my original power, where I had first seen False, why the room was familiar... I also remembered that I was the one who killed Ochre.

I had passed out from the pain of getting all my memories back, seeing it all while I was still unconscious, it felt like I was dying. When I woke up, Acrylic was there.

Although I still didn't want her to know the truth, I showed Acrylic what really happened and left to defend Canterlot from the same demons that had destroyed her home, planning to leave afterwards and never come back.

While I was there, something appeared above the city.

* * *

(Acrylic)

The two spirit guides, the same ones who I freed from the book of Illusions, appeared in the dream realm after Brad left and completed unlocking all my memories.

I became a full spirit guide, gaining a new form and appearing above Canterlot as a Seraphim. I had six wings and three horns now.

As I arrived at the city, I could see Brad near the ground and the demons approaching.

I could tell Brad was upset, he even wanted me to destroy him for what he did. But I refused. I couldn't do that after all he'd done for me, even with all the reasons he gave for me to destroy him.

After he apologized, I promised him I wouldn't destroy him and started to fight the demons, with Brad's help, we defeated them all.

We never spoke of the past again.


End file.
